Indications regarding the documentation to be submitted

For the yearly assessment, students will have to submit all the required documentation and subsequently publicly defend the alleged merits in front of the respective tribunal. The date and format for delivery of the documentation, and the date for the public defense that corresponds to each defense session will be specified in this website’s section Next Sessions. Every year, a positive assessment will be an essential requirement to continue in the program.  In the event of a negative assessment, PhD students will be assessed again within six months. A second negative assessment will be cause for expulsion from the Program. An appeal may be filed against this decision with the University of Malaga Postgraduate Commission.  

The documentation that PhD students have to submit for the yearly assessment is the following:

 

First Year

• A document detailing and properly justifying the merits submitted by the student, in accordance with the established assessment criteria.
• Research Plan, drafted in accordance with the following instructions:
  • The plan must be drafted using font size 12, 1.5 line spacing, with upper and lower margins of 2.5 cm and left and right margins of 3 cm.
  • The plan must contain the following sections:
    • Cover Page: The first page will have the title of the plan, the particulars of the PhD student, tutor and supervisor/s, a brief summary and the keywords considered appropriate (at least 3).
    • Introduction (maximum 5 pages): State of art of the research topic in indexed journals and justification and introduction of the research.
    • Objectives (maximum 1 page): The main goal of the work has to be presented and the specific goals (between 2 and 4) have to be briefly, realistically and precisely enumerated.
    • Methodology and Chronogram (max 4 pages): The methodology will be detailed, specifying the tasks to be performed (with a brief description), their methodological feasibility and expected milestones, together with an estimated timeline indicating beginning and end. 
    • Expected Contribution (maximum 1 page): The expected impact, from a scientific perspective, of the results foreseen by the Research Plan.
    • Dissemination Plan (maximum 1 page): The Plan should describe how the scientific results are going to be transmitted, specifying the channels (congress, journals) that will be used.
    • Bibliography.

 

Second Year and Subsequent Ones 

For the assessment of the second year and subsequent ones, students of the PhD Program must submit the following documentation:

1. A report signed by the tutor and the thesis supervisor in accordance with University regulations.
2. A document detailing and justifying the alleged merits, in accordance with the assessment criteria.
3. Research Plan. Year 1 Research Plan will be presented if the Assessment Committee did not suggest any changes and the progress made continues to follow the research plan submitted. Otherwise, a new research plan that includes the modifications suggested by the assessment committee, or modifications due to the progress of the research, will be presented.
4. A report detailing the progress of the thesis work in relation to the Research Plan. The report has to include the following information:

a) In the event of a modification of the research plan submitted in year 1, an indication of whether the modifications were made based on the Assessment Committee’s comments or whether they are due to the progress of the research.

b) Description of how the activities correspond to the goals of the Research Plan.

c) Evaluation of the level of the progress of the thesis compared to the timeline planned in the Research Plan.

d) Situation of the papers stemming from the research with potential to be published in a JCR indexed journal.